By

Share

Blog Roll

Dirty Works: Smashin' Trash

Feb 01st 2012

Broc Kienholz

Lead OperatorWasatch Landfill for Republic Services

The JobKienholz supervises the crew that operates machinery at the landfill and is an operator himself, working with heavy equipment to push garbage into designated areas, spread it and compact it to make room for more. He creates roads to the dumpsite and is on top of environmental matters like covering the trash with dirt and preventing dust, gas and ground water contamination. He also maintains the machinery—the dirtiest part.

Where he does itThe landfill has a 130-million-cubic-yard capacity in a remote area of Skull Valley. It’s a 45-minute drive along I-80 West to Rowley Road from Kienholz’s home in Magna. Stop by for a smell on your way to Wendover.

The uniformHard hat, leather gloves, safety glasses, steel-toed boots and coveralls when doing maintenance on the machines.Why it’s dirty Anything that gets thrown away can also get stuck in the tracks of the bulldozers. “And at the end of the day, we clean the bulldozer tracks,” Kienholz says. “You’ve got to have a hook to get in there, and sometimes, you just throw the hook on the ground and get in with your hands.”

Why it’s really dirty“Sometimes a machine will get stuck and you’ll have to crawl underneath it in the trash to get a chain hooked up,” Kienholz says. “If it’s snowing or raining, you end up dripping with you-don’t-want-to-know on you—we call it ‘mud plus.’” Once, during a nightime snowstorm, a bulldozer broke down on a slope with a fuel leak. Underneath, fuel ran down Kienholz's arms and he was covered in wet trash.

Why he does it“I actually helped start a new landfill, and I love teaching people how to run this equipment.”